Musical instrument.



Patnted lune 27,1899.

C. E. BROWN. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

(Applicationfiled Feb. 27, 1899.}

(No Model.)

uHUm gig/la UNITED STATES l PATENT OFFICE.

CARL E. BROlVN, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO XVILLIAM IV.MOCALLIP, OF SAME PLACE.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 627,569, dated June 27,1899. Application filed February 27, 1899. Serial No. 706,993. 1 (N0model.)

To 66 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL E. BROWN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvementsin Musical Instruments; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a musical instrumentthat may be played upon by persons who cannot through circumstancesdevote the time and patience necessary to acquire sufficient technicalskill to play with abandon upon instruments of the nobler sort.

Collaterally it is also my object to provide an instrument of suchsimpleand economical form as to be within the reachof persons of small ormoderate means.

My invention consists of a cithern-like instrument having an openingextending to the interior thereof adapted to receive a mouthharp, sothat the tones of the mouth-harp are introduced into the body of thecithern-like instrument, and thereby pleasingly modified.

It also consists in a cithern-like instrument having separatelygroupedbass and chord strings and an opening through the wall of thecithern-llke instrument combined with a mouth-harp connected withsaid'opening, so

that the tones thereof are introduced into the on the line '3 12 Fig. 1.

Like characters of reference on the several views denote correspondingparts.

1 designates the cithern-body; but in the instance shown it is madelarger at its upper end, so as to be sufficiently deep to take in allthe reed-holes of the harmonica or mouthharp 2 when the latter is in itsseat. Across this larger end of the cithern and parallel to the endthereof is cut or formed an opening 1, and to the inner side of theupper wall of the cithern adjacent the opening is secured aclamping-piece 3, the outer part being movable, so as to be capable ofbeing sprung down by the end of a thumb-screw 4,passing through theupper end of the cithern. As harmonicas are of different thickness, asmall lip'l" will be cut or formed on the upper wall, so that an openingbetween the clamping-piece and the upper wall shall not appear when theclamping-piece is depressed upon the mouthharp.

The mouth-harp 2 is of the ordinary kind and when placedin the opening 1may be held in place by simply turning the thumbscrew down, thusdepressing-the clampingpiece and pinching the mouth-harp against thelower edge of the opening.

The corner of the cithern above the seat of the mouth-harp is cut out orrecessed at 1 to afford room for the nose of the player as he moves hislips back and forth across the mouth-harp.

The cithern is furnished along its ends with appropriate bridges, acrosswhich are stretched to tuning-pins the bass strings 5, 6, and 7,preferably tuned for convenience in manipulating, as dominant,(inverted,) tonic, and subdominant, respectively, and the strings 5, 6,and 7 each in series of three, tuned to form harmonizing chords, therelative position of the chords so formed to each other being the sameas the relative position of the bass strings to each other; but thisarrangement may be varied and the bass strings be placed in formalorder, as tonic, subdominant, and dominant, with harmonizing chordstrings in corresponding arrangement, the essential thing with myinvention being the separate grouping of the bass strings and of chordstrings. The strings of course are to be attuned to the key of theharmonica, whatever that may be, so that a harmonious accompaniment to amelody upon the harmonica may be picked upon the strings.

The purpose in separately grouping the fundamental or bass strings andthe chord strings is to prdmote facility in manipulating them. When sogrouped, the position of the strings is more adapted to the natural oropen position of the hand, the fundamental strings being picked with thethumb and the chords with the first or other finger of the same hand.This grouping of the strings also enables the more ready finding of thestrings and insures. the making of the proper interval between thepicking of the bass and the picking of the chord and therefore thekeeping of bettertime. This facilitating of the picking of the stringsvis important when it is considered that the attention of the performermust be directed to two things at the same time and? the difficulty ofdoing either or both things should be rendered as slight aspossible.

When the fundamental string is grouped with the chord strings, the handmust be contracted and cramped and the thumb is so. near thechord-picking finger that there is a tendency to pick the chord 'toosoon afterj picking the bass string, and, moreover, the. player islikely topick both the chord and} bass simultaneously when intending topick the chord alone,thereby marring in at leasttwo respects the effectdesired.

.As hereinbefore intimated, the location off the harmonica in an openingin the cithern, so& that the tones are emitted into the latter andemanate at thesound-hole, greatly broadens and gives body to the tonesof the harmonica? and so renders the instrument far more pleas-j ing andinterestingin its effect. j

, By :the expression, cithern-like iIlSiIll-i ment as usedin my claims Imean a stringed instrument inwhich there is no fretted fin ger-i boardand in which the strings are always open strings and always picked assuch. 1

i From the foregoing it is observed, therefore, that practically theonly skill required? to produce very pleasing music upon this instrument is that required to play a mouthharp, and this is so easilyacquired that most children through their own efiorts and withoutinstruction soon possess it.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A cithern-like instrument provided with an opening extending to theinterior thereof and having means to removably receive a harmonica ormouth-harp in said opening so that the tones of said harmonica ormouthharp may be introduced into the body of the cithern-likeinstrument, substantially as described.

2. A cithern-like instrument provided with an opening extending to theinterior thereof and a harmonica or mouth -harp attached thereto in saidopening so that the tones from the harmonica or mouth-harp shall beintroduced into the body of the cithern-like instrument, substantiallyas described.

3. A stringed instrument provided with an opening to receive a windinstrumentso that the tones of the wind instrument shall be modified bythe stringed instrument, said stringed instrument being recessedadjacent said opening, substantially as indicated at 1

